Yesterday Ralph Krueger suggested he is contemplating making a switch amongst his top two lines for tonight's tilt v. Dallas.

Which move makes more sense? Turns out it wasn't what many were thinking.

Will he move Sam Gagner between Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, and slide Ryan Nugent-Hopkins between Nail Yakupov and Ales Hemsky, or will he stay with the duos he liked at the start of the season, Eberle with RNH, Gagner with Hemsky and swap Yakupov and Hall?

I think both moves would have merit.

The Hall/Gagner/Eberle trio had success last year, most notably Gagner's 8-point night against Chicago. Hall and Hemsky are the two best forwards right now at backing off the defenders on the rush, so keeping them on separate lines makes sense.

Right now Nugent-Hopkins has shown he is better defensively than Gagner. While RNH isn't producing like Gagner, 9-game point streak, he has shown remarkable improvement with his defensive zone coverage. If you put RNH between Yakupov and Hemsky, they likely won't be eaten up 5-on-5 like the 64/89/83 trio was.

Also, putting RNH with the Yakupov, who has been the best shooter early on, could lead to more offensive chances. The great news for Krueger is that he's the first Oiler coach in a decade who has six legitimate offensive players that he can rotate through his top-two lines.

Krueger could also throw Yakupov with RNH and Eberle, and give them better matchups, while putting Hall with Gagner and Hemsky and give them the harder minutes. Hemsky has faced the top defenders for most of his career, so he's used to it, and right now Hall's overall speed and strength make him the hardest to defend amongst the young kids.

SCRATCH THAT

Nugent-Hopkins will not play tonight. There will be some switching of lines and positions, but it will involve Mark Arcobello and Ryan Smyth.

Arcobello will have one of the best opportunities any player has had for his first NHL game. He'll play between Hall and Eberle, while Smyth will move to centre with Lennart Petrell and Darcy Hordichuk on his wings.

RNH is listed as day-to-day, and according to Krueger if this was a playoff game he'd be playing. Krueger said they expect him to play Saturday in Detroit. His shoulder is bothering him, not sure which one, but after a hard hit in OT v. Vancouver the Oilers have elected to rest him.

Alex Goligoski is a healthy scratch. He hasn't played as well as the coaches would like, so he'll take a seat upstairs.

QUICK HITS

Devan Dubnyk is tied for 7th in SV%, .925%, with goalies who have started at least five games. He has faced the most shots in the NHL at 295, and along with Jimmy Howard, Mikka Kiprusoff and Jonathan Quick they are the only goalies to have started every game for their team.

The Oilers are 30th in shots against. They are allowing 34.4 per game. They are 24th in shots for with 27.4/game, which ranks them 29th in SF/SA ratio at a woeful -7.

The positive for tonight is that the Stars are 30th in SF/SA ratio at an awful -9.2. The Stars are only averaging 24.6 shot per game while allowing 33.8.

Smyth, Petrell, Lander, Gagner and Paajarvi will rotate on the penalty kill.

Yakupov tweeted out a pretty neat picture of him and Jaromir Jagr. "Nail10_1993 : That was 2004 -Jagr played in Russia , in Lockout time . And it's me 11 years old Boy :) Good eh ?)))) "

Yakupov is excited to play one of his idols tonight.

Krueger wouldn't say for sure who would be on his first powerplay unit, but you will likely see Arcobello slide in to Nugent-Hopkins spot. I'd look at putting Ryan Smyth on the first unit in place of Shawn Horcoff, because they need to try and win the faceoff and he is good in front of the net.

The Stars have been shorthanded a league-high 50 times this year. They were preaching discipline this morning, and admitted they are leery of the Oilers powerplay. The Oilers are 2nd in PP goals, 12, and 3rd in PP% at 28.6. The Stars PK is solid at 11th, but their PP only has 4 goals on 33 chances and sit 27th at 12.1%.

Hall fought Roussel in the minors this year, and Stars analyst Darryl Reaugh called him mini-Pepe today, a Claude Lemieux reference. Roussel is great at getting under people's skin, and isn't afraid to drop the gloves to protect himself. Look for him to try and fire up the Oilers tonight.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers are without three centres, and since most expect them to lose tonight, they will do the opposite and win, 3-2.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers will struggle in the faceoff dot, and Smyth will have the best percentage.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Early in the 2nd period, Arcobello will saucer a cross-ice pass to Eberle who scores his first goal in five games. Right after he scores Roussel will give him a cheap shot in the back. Arcobello skates in and jumps Roussel. They drop the gloves and Arcobello takes a few heavy shots. While sitting in the penalty box, they announce the goal and Arcobello's assist and the big screen shows Arcobello in the sin bin, nose leaking with a huge grin. The crowd loves it and gives Arcobello a standing ovation.

RECENTLY BY JASON GREGOR

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

OGDP: I'm as tired of being optimistic about the Oilers as I am people who think they should be winning every game. I've come to the sad realization that simply competing on game night is a big improvement. Hugs to Ralphy.

NSOGDP: DSF fends off personal attacks from 3 major diseases - and wins.

In Canada, possession of amphetamines is a criminal offence under Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, with a maximum penalty for repeat offenders of fines of up to $2,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.

On one level I agree; like if we were all at a pub watching the game...

But on the level where we are all chatting about the Oilers on an internet site using names such as JustDOit, Wanye, Yak be nimble, Yak beat Quick...., etc... I would argue its impossible to be personal.

Doesn't the nature of a personal attack require you to actually know personal information?

Then later we can trade the depth centre for a depth D-man. Or we can just bring up a Baron for a "cupa". Steady as she goes in my opinion, that's part of development, giving these Barons a look see at the big league.

Problem is...you won't get even a good AHL player for either of those two.

Not every kid selected is going to pan out. There's likely to be a future support player in this bunch, don't you think?

All three of the past entry drafts the Oilers have went hard after netting more than one of these lottery kids. Seguin and Hall in 2010. Hopkins and Larsson in 2011, and this past summer they went hard after both Ryan Murray and Alex Galchenyuk. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Less than 50/50, the player selected first ends up being the best player in that draft class.Hall and Hopkins arrows seem to be pointing sideways rather than up this season, don't you think?

How would halls arrow be pointing sideways? he's a ppg
Some people who bash hall make me wonder if the watch oiler games, 75 percent of games he's the most dominate player on the ice

How would halls arrow be pointing sideways? he's a ppg
Some people who bash hall make me wonder if the watch oiler games, 75 percent of games he's the most dominate player on the ice

You're easily impressed. Anyone can see Taylor Hall is frustrated by the way this seasons started. He may have a few points but he's fighting the puck as well as trying to just stay on his feet. Taylor Hall himself i'm sure would admit he's not happy with the start to his season. How far off base do you feel i am on this?

All the Oilers forwards should consider wearing those clear foot/skate gaurds like Smid wears. Have to think they would've saved Belanger and Lander some grief.

Re # 106. After that comment you should perhaps look in a mirror before accusing someone of being inappropriate. I do not agree with much of what DSF says but I respectfully read his comments and attempt to respond within a hockey context as this is a hockey forum.

Say what you want about his comments but he is never personally disrespectful.

I appreciate your passion in being an Oilers fan, as I am a passionate one as well, but too far man, too far...

If we somehow have the 1st pick again this year, I keep the pick, take McKinnon and trade one of the other guys for the players we need. There is no way you can take a pass on McKinnon and I don't think any team would offer enough to trade that pick away.

Wow: this ship is sinking fast... Whitney not making it, a 24 yr old-journey man 1st line centre (yes great story), no depth on D, centremen depleted. Going to be the start of another long season, thankfully only 40 games left, and another high draft pick... Makes sense anyways, tank this short year, load up in the off season, that's what tankers do when they recall journeymen and put them on first line....

"The Oilers are 30th in shots against. They are allowing 34.4 per game. They are 24th in shots for with 24.4/game, which ranks them 29th in SF/SA ratio at a woeful -7.
The positive for tonight is that the Stars are 30th in SF/SA ratio at an awful -9.2. The Stars are only averaging 24.6 shot per game while allowing 33.8."

Something doesn't make sense here. With these numbers the Oilers would have a -10.0 SF/SA ratio, putting them solidly below Dallas. Am I missing something?

Sorry man - if your looking for class your in the wrong place! We are Oilers fans and protect our team win/lose at all costs. Do you blog for your team anywhere or just against ours to obtain this attention ? Just curious ....

Think that OT goal by Jagr is a good example of Dubnyk getting tired. Unobstructed view of the shooter/puck and he sits there, hoping the puck just hits him. His glovehand must've went to sleep on him on that opportunity. Zero wins in his last four starts.

Oilers must be paying a price for mouthing off at the refs. More often than not they're on the short end of breaks from the officials.

He has a .925 save percentage in his last four starts. I'm not sure you can ask more from your goalie getting you to OT three times in four games while getting badly outshot most nights.

The reason this team has zero wins in four games is because of the lack of scoring. Only 1.75 goals per game in the last four. Hardly Dubnyk's fault this team can't score right now.

Re # 106. After that comment you should perhaps look in a mirror before accusing someone of being inappropriate. I do not agree with much of what DSF says but I respectfully read his comments and attempt to respond within a hockey context as this is a hockey forum.

Say what you want about his comments but he is never personally disrespectful.

I appreciate your passion in being an Oilers fan, as I am a passionate one as well, but too far man, too far...

You are entitled to your opinion, and I'll certainly consider it......I admire your restraint....but I think that you and I have a much different opinion when it comes to DSF being respectful.

Bringing up your dead mother in the middle of some blog / chat room banter for effect ..like he did crosses a line……..Doesn’t it.? That's not respectful to the guy he's talking to, it's not respectfull to DSF's mother and it's not repectful to DSF himself.

If he wants to talk Hockey and throw in the occasional witicism…that’s one thing …..but with this…..come on…..even he must feel some regret…..at having made that particular statement..?

Jason:
Did you get a chance to ask Ralph about doing some Voodoo magic/cleansing of the Oilers dressing room? Honestly...couldn't hurt to try. Nothing else seems to be stemming the tide of the 5 year (and counting)injury curse.

Some of these guys are so quick to sit out because there's nobody behind them who'll take their job, along with the fact that they're playing nothing games. The games of a team in the Oilers position have little to no meaning for the last 3 yrs and counting.

As newer players continue to roll in every June, they'll create their own environment players will desperately want to be part of. When the games mean something, you'll see players play through injuries like Kevin Lowe did when he'd play with a broken arm.

NSOGDP: Smyth scores his second of the season in similar fashion to the first. Those watching at home are pumped from the time the shot leaves his stick to the time it crosses the goal line, as the announcer yells, "It's going.... It's going..."

If tankage is on Tambellinis agenda, this is another golden opportunity to do just that. We all know we could still use another one or two lotto picks.

If this is what unfolds, this could be the end of Tambo here. Nathan MacKinnon and a new GM......i'll take that in a heartbeat.

I don't think tanking and drafting first will be that easy this year.

Did they not change the lottery system to something similar to the NBA, giving all non playoff teams a shot at the top picks? I might be wrong here, don't know.

Watching the Lames blow it up, finish last, then pick outside the top three (potentially, sure) will be a absolute pleasure!!

Tambellini needs to go anyways, this week is showing that the only thing he's good at is standing at a podium and calling out a name. He's had 4 years to fix depth problems and after 5 injuries were icing a suspectable lineup and OKC
Is seriously depleted.

With this being the first draft under these guidelines, it should be interesting to see which of the non playoff teams get that first selection. Someone has to win that first selection, might as well be the Oilers. Send that stinger through the remaining 29 teams!

A competitive team in the AHL has little meaning as far as i'm concerned. Oklahoma is just a reflection of how thin things are up here with the parent club. 90% of those kids will never make that next step up to the NHL.

I'm definitely not after a cup run this year, I can be realistic at times.

I'm just wanting management to stop getting in these situations; If the Oil don't get through this set if injury woes decently, we run the risk of damaging there growth, discouraging them from wanting to see this through, setting them up to fail.

Sucking and drafting at the top can continue in perpetuity, but actually consistently winning comes from breaking this cycle and addressing roster weaknesses/concerns as they arise.

I realize I might sound negative here, but seeing the same crap every year starts to pick away at a guy.

I will however still be down in the man-cave drinking vodkas cheering the entire 60 mins(which is generally 20 more than the Oilers actually play)